Student Essay Entitled "Misunderstandings Caused by Cultural differences"

2 months ago, I was still working in Walt Disney World, Florida. That is the most colorful and meaningful period so far, and different indeed. Often those differences lead to misunderstandings.

I remember my roommate, a Chinese girl, and her American boyfriend. They fought more than they talked. Once the girl went to me complaining how mean he was, “Whenever we go to a restaurant, he only pays what he ordered and never ever share a single item he bought, not even a candy bar.”

In everyday life, there are more examples like this, and more in academic and artistic spheres. Like the movie The Gua-Sha Treatment. In it the traditional Chinese massage was regarded as a way of torturing kids. Meanwhile, the American lawyer thought Monkey King, a heroic figure of Chinese culture, was a trouble-maker who broke the rules and valued violence.

A great ancient Western painting of a nude woman or man, or a group of them would be a nervous-racking or heart-disease-causing disaster for the Chinese artists or painters who lived in the same period of the Western ones who were viewed nudity differently.

Shall we laugh at that lawyer’s ignorance or the ancient Chinese painters’ inability to appreciate the masterpieces? Neither.

Our values are sculptured by history. Ancient Chinese people thought highly of being reserved. For an age which hardly allowed women to show their hands, how could the nudity pictures be beautiful? Back then in China, women were beautiful only when they practiced the traditional virtues expected of a woman and wore enough clothes to cover their bodies. It was against the morality if they showed up in a picture naked.

America hasn’t had a historical period of fighting against feudalism. That’s probably why it’s hard for them to picture a rebellious monkey representing the majority breaking the feudalistic shackles and fighting the feudal lords figured by the devils who were swallowing the people.

Americans are famous for being self-reliant. They live in a highly industrialized country with small population. Yet for so long China has bred so many people that we are used to being connected rather than fighting alone. So many long black nights of hunger and thirst have taught us that only when we work together as a whole can we survive. Therefore the bond is stronger than that in America. This resulted in the different interpretation of “sharing”. In a relationship, Chinese boys tend to be more like an ATM machine, paying every meal and snack to make himself more reliable as someone who’s able to take care of her.

Cultural differences may cause various misunderstandings or troubles but as long as we understand the deep root of such differences and respect it, we’ll enjoy the variety of the world better.

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